Dear John Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Dear John

Dear John is a book written by Nicholas Sparks. This is the story of a couple who fall madly in love and are separated, yet they never stop loving each other. It is a story of unconditional love and faith. John falls in love one summer with a girl named Savannah, in North Carolina. They are madly in love, yet John has to leave town to attend military service. Having dropped out of school, he enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces as a way to find meaning to his life. His dad has difficulty carrying normal conversations with him and he has an obsession with coin collecting, and John suspects something is wrong with his father but refuses to face this fact and go see a doctor.
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John leaves for the military, leaving Savannah behind but they decide to maintain a long-distance relationship as he loves her more than anything - and is looking forward to seeing her again. While on leave, they remain in touch and keep sending each other letters to keep up with each other's lives. Unfortunately, circumstances such as 9/11 changes his plans; he has to reenlist. John and Savannah decide to stay together and continue to write to each other. Eventually, however, Savannah, being away to college, falls in love with another man and she send John a letter telling him that she has stopped waiting for him as she feels that are growing apart, and she now wants a real life with a real relationship. John is heartbroken and they stop exchanging letters.

One day, while still being on leave, John learns of his father's death. He comes home and then looks for Savannah and that is when he sees her with another man - her husband. They talk and even though she still has feelings for him - and him her, she wants to leave their story in the past. John decides to let Savannah go as he loves her more than anything and wants her to be happy. The man Savannah married is her childhood best friend Tom who John had become friends with when dating her the summer they first met. Savannah tells John that Tom has Melanoma and that he is going to die, unless he receives better treatments at another hospital - which she cannot afford. Tom goes to the hospital to speak with Tom who tells him that should something happen to him, he wants John to take care of Savannah. Despite the prospect of being reunited with the woman of his life, John decides to donate his father's coin collection to Tim's fund to enable him to get treatments. John then goes back to Iraq and never speaks to Savannah again and continues living his life in the army.

Best part of story, including ending:
I love this story as this is a story of unconditional love. Even though John has the opportunity to finally be with Savannah, he instead decides to save her husband's life as he doesn't want her to get hurt.

Best scene in story:
When John donated his father's coin collection. John knew how much the coins meant to his father and that was all he had left from him. He acted out of love for Savannah and found better use to those coins.

Opinion about the main character:
I like that he is selfless.

The review of this Book prepared by Mary G.a Level 4 Yellow-Headed Blackbird scholar

Main Male Character

Main Female Character

Setting

United States - Yes
Mountains/Cliffs - Yes

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How explicit is the sex? - vague references only
- descript of kissing
- touching of anatomy
Focus of story - Him
How much dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog